Malaysia’s Anwar handed jail sentence for sodomy

‘KNOCKING HIM OUT’:A court overturned a 2012 acquittal, which is all about removing Anwar from politics, according to a human rights expert

Bloomberg

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim shouts to his supporters outside a court house in Putrajaya, Malaysia, on Friday. Anwar was sentenced to five years in jail on a sodomy charge.

Photo: Reuters

A Malaysian court sentenced opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to five years in jail after overturning his acquittal in 2012 on a sodomy charge, leaving him unable to contest a special state election later this month.

The Malaysian Court of Appeal allowed a stay of the sentence until tomorrow and set bail for Anwar at 10,000 ringgit (US$3,070), his lawyer, Karpal Singh, told reporters on Friday outside the court in Putrajaya. Sodomy is illegal in Malaysia and carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Anwar, 66, told reporters outside the court he would appeal the verdict and that his People’s Justice Party would seek a replacement candidate to stand for the vacant Selangor State seat, with the election to be held on March 23.

In the short term, it means that there will be a vacuum in terms of leadership in the People’s Justice Party and Anwar’s Pakatan Rakyat coalition, said James Chin, professor of political science at the Malaysian campus of Australia’s Monash University.

“If you take Anwar out, this means that you open up a can of worms. With Anwar there, at least there is more predictability in terms of domestic politics in Malaysia,” Chin said.

The Malaysian court ruling may escalate political tensions in Muslim-majority Malaysia at a time when the government is in a legal tussle with Catholics to prevent them using the word “Allah” to refer to God in non-Muslim texts.

The former Malaysian deputy prime minister was cleared on Jan. 9, 2012, after Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah ruled there was no evidence to corroborate claims made by a former aide of a sexual encounter in 2008.

Malaysian Court of Appeal Judge Balia Yusof Wahi said yesterday the trial judge had erred in doubting the integrity of DNA samples the prosecution presented.

“Malaysia has an independent judiciary and the judges will have reached their verdict only after considering all the evidence in a balanced and objective manner,” the government said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

“Anwar Ibrahim and his legal team have the right to appeal” the decision to the Malaysian Federal Court, it said.

The People’s Justice Party announced in January that Anwar, who holds a seat in the Malaysian national parliament, would stand for the vacant state seat in Selangor, which in 2012 was the biggest contributor to the country’s GDP.

The decision to have Anwar contest reflected the party’s efforts to speed reform in the state and fend off political attacks by the United Malays National Organization, the country’s biggest party, Rafizi Ramli, strategic director of the People’s Justice Party, said in a statement released on Jan. 29.

The 2012 acquittal allowed Anwar to lead the opposition in general elections that were held in May last year. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s Barisan Nasional coalition won a parliamentary majority, even though it secured just 47 percent of the popular vote. Anwar’s own party and another made up mainly of ethnic Malays did worse than the previous election in 2008, while his ally, the mostly ethnic-Chinese Democratic Action Party, improved its fortunes.

“This trial was all about knocking Anwar Ibrahim out of politics,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Asia division at Human Rights Watch. “Anwar and his family appear caught in a never-ending nightmare of his political adversaries’ making.”